Regarding exporting datamodel

[I_Server_Whale]

If i recall, you even play a sitar, right?

Ray and sitar, What a combo?

[kris007]

Twenty years later Robert Pirsig wrote his second book, called "Lola" if I remember correctly.

It's "Lila"

[ArndW]

And it sucks, unlike his previous book!

[kduke]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This was one of my favorite books. Ray mentioned it a few days ago. This book is not really about Zen because I am a Christian now and I would not promote any other religion. It is about excellence, art, beauty and a way to view the world differently. In Christian terms this is what we would call honoring God through excellence. The art is in doing things properly without emotional wavering. It is doing the right thing because it is the right thing. Ego is taken out of the equation. He did not do the right thing to receive praise or to be seen as perfect or good. It was a self rewarding pursuit of good. What is your motivation? It is hard to remove ego. You have to look deep into your soul to see why are you doing something well and other things poorly. If you have the brains and the talent to do something in an excellent manor then why not do it excellently.

The different way of viewing the world was more about labeling than about eyesight. The author viewed his doing things in right way as beautiful. What he or anyone labeled beautiful was their art or pursuit of art. I have a lot of artists in my family. They think and act differently because they do want to create beauty or beautiful paintings or sculptures. I think most people that rise to the top of their fields have the same mentality. Lets take Ray for instance or Ken. I think they look at their work and see it as beautiful when it is done correctly or to the best of their ability. DataStage or programming in general is their Art. Everything thing they do has to be done at a certain quality level. I think at the end of your life if you want to be satisfied with what you have accomplished then you need to develop this attitude or way of thinking. This way of life is to study your craft and apply strong principles to your work. They tend to want the results to be clean and elegant or "beautiful". A man driven or motivated by ego wants you to see the complexity of his work. A man that has removed his ego wants you to also understand the way to do something more elegantly or beautiful. He wants you to take it to the next level. You should feel good about your work. You should feel rewarded when you know that you could not do it any better but what we define as better is based on what we know. I doubt if many of us know as much as Ray or Ken. I am sure all if us know things they do not know as well but I am focusing on DataStage or data warehouse knowledge. Are you capable of raising anything into the beautiful level? If it is not in data warehousing or DataStage then maybe you are in the wrong profession. My suggestion to you is find that thing that you can create beauty with and do it. That is what we call your gift from God. Another saying that may apply is your gift will make a place for itself.

Here are few more of my favorite thoughts which may apply. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. In other words if you think your are beautiful then maybe you are or maybe you are on the way. We have all seen a man or woman which is not so good looking but they were so confident that you had to like them. You may not be wise but if you practice wisdom then you might attain wisdom. To practice in this sense means to try or put effort to become wise. The same is true for art and beauty. Artist have to practice their art or craft to become good at it. As you work try to make it beautiful. When it is done well then it should look beautiful to you. Label it beautiful or art in your own head. Say this is my art or craft. Hopefully craft means you have taken this to the next level. You are a professional getting paid to create beautiful solutions.

I am sure in many ways I do not do this book justice. Some of what my point is about how to treat someone like Ray. He may not be too patient with someone who posts plz instead of please. He has many years of training himself to be and do excellence. To him it is now a habit. A habit is more than just practice. It is a part of his soul, how he views the world. In some sense it what he has labeled as good or bad. In no way shape or form do I speak for Ray or Ken but I do think I understand some of their mindset or how they think. More specifically how they have trained themselves to think. I am sure that we as a DataStage community all have differences in what we call rude. In no way do I think we can bridge that gap so we all think and act and post in the same manor. I like our differences. I celebrate them. If you want to be respected by the best in this profession then I expect you to respect Ray. He has proven himself to be most excellent. There are many on this forum I respect in the same manor as Ray and Ken. Some that never post but are friends that I know have the same pursuit of excellence because I have worked with them. I hope someday to reach this level of excellence. I think I am too old and tired to work that hard but I hope they at least call me friend and know for a fact I wish them well.

[DSguru2B]

Deep thoughts Kim, deep thoughts. Well said, well written, deeply motivated, or shall I say, excellent.
I agree with whatever you have to say, especially in your last para. Folks like Ray, Ken, Arulan, Craig and yourself are true gurus in the field of DataStage and DW, have a keen eye on excellence and come up with beautiful solutions. Thats why you will notice a trend, that a post has been answered 9 times and Ray comes along and posts his reply that overshadows everyone else's reply. Not because his is the last post, but it is to the point and elegant.
I personally believe that if a person wants to reach any level of excellence, in any field, the utmost and most important thing to keep in mind is, to honor the folks who have spend thier lives in it. Its a part of self discipline, self nurture.
True Knowledge and wisdom is like light. It comes to those who deserve them. Rest is just information. Information is on paper and can make a person eloquent. But knowledge comes with honor and respect. Information fades away, Knowledge enlightens ones heart and spreads light wherever it goes.

[kduke]

I think I am pretty good at a few things. Ray is great on a regular basis.

I have been thinking about that book all week and how much it changed the way I think. It is funny Arnd and Ray have read it too.

[narasimha]

Very thoughtful and inspiring, Kim.
I ready your post 3 times

[DSguru2B]

I have been thinking about that book all week and how much it changed the way I think. It is funny Arnd and Ray have read it too.

I think I need to get a copy of that book as well then. Hopefully I'll be in the league of true Grurus.

[kduke]

I want to make sure that everyone knows that I do not consider myself to have attained anything. I am not yet a guru or great or excellent or beautiful or art but I am striving to be all these things. I am practicing to be great or wise. I am not intimidated by the greatness of others or their wisdom or art. I do think I can add value to the posts of Ray or anybody else. I think all of us add a perspective that nobody else has. I do especially admire the gifts of wisdom Ray, Ken and others have given us way, beyond the mere knowledge of how to do things within DataStage. Thanks.

My Dad was an union electrician. I got summer jobs because of this in high school and college. I worked with this man. He had an excellent attitude. He would bend a piece of pipe then place it and then bend it some more. When he was done he admired his finished work and said "That is the way I do everything, perfect or a little better". I said "How could something be better than perfect". He said "I don't know but if anyone can then I can". He viewed his work as beautiful or art. What a joy to work with a man who loves his work. A true craftsman.

[DSguru2B]

Same here. I am still in the building stages. Even today I read some replies and am like, "I had no idea". But whatever I do, whatever I build, it feels good as its your own hard work. A beautiful sense of pride and accomplishment. Even though its a small piece of code. But since its your own, its admirable.

[ray.wurlod]

Sometime we'll catch up and have a discussion about Dads. Mine, too, was a union man - a merchant seaman. Similar approach to the one you described, maybe approaching it from the other side (if it's not worth doing to the best of your ability it's not worth doing at all). He was perforce skilled in all trades (when you're in the middle of an ocean you can't just phone for a tradesman) and taught me a lot about a lot of things.

That helps to explain why I am hard on lazy posters, and on lazy developers (if you're ever on my team you'd better document your work up front, and in good technical English). This site, and others, and any "programming" activity, is an act of communication.

I don't agree with everything in Marshall McLuhan's The Medium is the Message but there are some insightful points made in it. The most important is how vital it to try to eliminate possible avenues for misunderstanding.

ALL computer programming, whether graphical or code, is communication.
It's not about telling the computer what to do - if we wanted to do that we'd code in 1's and 0's. No, it's about telling the next programmer what your intention was.

To try to get back onto the thread topic, I see business metadata as being part of the data model. I advocate using Data Elements to record descriptive business metadata (this is easier now with IBM Business Glossary), and using the long description fields to explain the impact of business rules, methods and practices upon my designs.

[I_Server_Whale]

IBM Business Glossary . A cool thing. I can't wait to lay my hands on it.

Ray, Kim and DSguru2B. What is your opinion about "The Fountain Head" by Ayn Rand? If you did read it.

[DSguru2B]

I havent read it, but from the reviews it seems like a pretty fine book.

[kduke]

Sorry, I have not read it.

[kumar_s]

"The Fountain Head"
Iam reading it currently, around 300th page. One of the best book for 30 continuous years. Its about a adamant architect. Adamant in his work, to be unique, non-conventional, extraordinary and don't like to be popular.
Howard Roark, who quits his Architectural engineering studies , just because that he feels the education doesn't help him to think and contribute more innovative structurals.
He is starting his own firm. People could not digest his moder thoughts and his business. Lost of enemies to crush him down.
The story all about how he is coming up his life and building up the whole town.
Its was very motivational and inspiring to one of my friend. Which infact created a lot of impact in his life.
But still, good for one is not always good for all.